New Nicotine Alliance June Newsletter

June was relatively quiet for the NNA with many trustees, associates and supporters converging on Warsaw for the fifth Global Forum on Nicotine, but there is still plenty to report. Here are just some of our activities in the past month.

Fergus Mason, Vaping Post

Last week saw new anti-vaping laws or rules advancing around the world. Several US cities and counties continue to push for tougher restrictions, but the most egregious examples came from Northern Ireland, where an NHS trust is pushing vapers out the gate along with smokers, and New South Wales. The EU us also continuing its drive for a new tax on vapour products, as advocates across the continent mobilise to fight back.

Mawsley, Planet of the Vapes

‘The Antz’ up their game with another paper attacking vaping, as they sought to prove that chemical flavour additives used in e-cigarettes and related tobacco products caused problems. Unfortunately, the flaw in the study is so basic its amazing they considered this worthy of submission.

The paper does open with at least a nod towards honesty: “The majority of adult e-cigarette users are current or former combustible cigarette smokers.” At this point the slide into propaganda begins, as the authors write: “e-cigarette use by youth is rising rapidly”….

No, the EU is most certainly not right about this. It should be doing the exact opposite of what it is currently trying to achieve. It should be persuading smokers to switch to far far safer alternatives LIKE vaping. https://t.co/9lSVYeVd4W

Don’t Let The Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good – Stephanie Bloom

We all know that cigarettes increase the risk of cancer, heart disease, and early death, among other things. While the tobacco smoke of cigarettes contains thousands of chemicals, many of which are known carcinogens, nicotine itself, though highly addictive, is not a carcinogen. Tobacco harm reduction—the policies, programs, and practices that reduce the damage caused by smoking—must consist of viable alternative options to traditional cigarettes.

If Lawmakers Allow It – Jerry Rogers

According to the American Lung Association, “Many ex-smokers say quitting smoking was the hardest thing they have ever done.” This includes people who have “climbed mountains and corporate ladders, or tackled childbirth. It can take a smoker multiple quit-smoking attempts before they are completely smoke free.” And too many people simply quit trying to quit because nicotine feels good. It is both a stimulant and a relaxant so it perks you up when you’re exhausted, and it will soothe you when you’re anxious.

Shows Many Vapers Stop Smoking – Jacob Sullum

A new study of people who use Juul e-cigarettes provides further evidence that such products can reduce tobacco-related disease by offering smokers a much less hazarous source of nicotine. In a Juul-sponsored survey of nearly 19,000 vapers who had purchased the company’s products online, the Centre for Substance Use Research, a Scottish consulting firm, found that smokers who had switched to vaping far outnumbered vapers who had switched to smoking.

Manila Standard Business

“Nicotine is not the problem. It is a very big part of the solution,” said Andy Morrison, a former smoker, vaping advocate and trustee for the New Nicotine Alliance, a UK-based non-profit organization that promotes understanding of the potential of safer nicotine products for reducing cigarette smoking.

It is the tar and poisonous gases in cigarette smoke that are harmful to health, not nicotine, he said. However, many people find it hard to stop smoking because it is very difficult for them go without nicotine.

Erm, why didn’t they invite some vapers? Tobacco control, especially ASH, have no real idea about e-cigs whatsoever. The extent of ASH’s knowledge is so bloody piss poor that they lobbied ferociously in favour of Article 20 of the TPD which – in their own parlance – will kill hundreds of thousands of people.

Starts to evaporate despite MPs’ support for vaping

Fergus Mason, Vaping Post

The UK’s tolerant position on vaping looks under threat this week, as regulators move to tighten up loopholes in the country’s implementation of the EU TPD. Meanwhile the pharma industry is using regulators to attack e-cig advertising, again using the TPD as a weapon.

Across the Atlantic, US town councils continue to crack down on vapers under the guise of anti-smoking regulation. At least two more bans were introduced this week, one restricting vape purchases to over-21s and the other making it illegal to use e-cigarettes in an Arkansas city’s public parks.